Mikey Garcia Praises Vergil Ortiz, Reflects on Joshua Franco's Big Win

One of the bigger upsets of the year occurred on June 23rd when Joshua Franco (17-1-2) upset WBA world super flyweight champion Andrew Moloney (21-1) in an ESPN televised main event that took place at "The Bubble" at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Franco entered the fight as a late replacement for Oscar Negrete. The fight started out on fairly even terms as both fighters found success in the early rounds.  Franco was able to turn it on in the late rounds and dropped his opponent in the 11th round. The final scores were 114-113 twice and 115-112.

The Golden Boy Promotions' fighter is trained by world class trainer Robert Garcia in Riverside, California. 

Fighthype.com's Rainbow Alexander recently caught up with Garcia's younger brother, who is multi-division world champion Mikey Garcia, to get his take on Franco's victory.

"Now he is a world champ. That is really exciting news for the team and especially for him. That is a dream come true for him. Every fighter's dream is to become a world champ. He had a tough fight in front of him. He fought this kid from Australia who was undefeated, a world champ, I think his last name was Moloney. It was a tough fight. Early on Josh was fighting well but the other kid was trying to defend his title. Josh started to pick up the pace and started winning and hurt the kid and dropped him I think in the 10th round or 11th round and just didn't stop. Big congratulations to Josh. He is now a world champ. I think that makes #13 world champ for my brother," Garcia stated.

Garcia was also asked about blue chip welterweight prospect Vergil Ortiz, who is also trained by his brother and fights Samuel Vargas on July 24th in a DAZN streamed main event. Mikey is very high on Ortiz as well.

I think Vergil is one of the top contenders in the welterweight division and soon to be world. He trains harder than some including me sometimes. He trains f--king hard. I see him challenging for a world title very soon," said Garcia.

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